Gaston College Student Rings Cancer-Free Bell, Looks to Future
In the summer of 2023, Jacob Brindle was certain he would soon be playing college football.
Instead, a shocking diagnosis of acute Lymphocytic leukemia altered his path. It was a moment that not only redirected his future but also tested his inner strength.
With support from his family, friends, and local communities, Brindle was recently declared cancer-free. Now, he is looking ahead and thinking about how Gaston College has influenced his future.
“This whole process has been so good to me,” said Brindle, who was medically cleared by his team at Charlotte’s Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital on Nov. 7. “I was at rock bottom at first. And I never, ever want to be in that position again in my life. So Gaston has been really good for me.”
Brindle, a 6-foot-3, 285-pound offensive line prospect at Belmont’s Stuart Cramer High School, saw his life change as he got ready for his senior football season in 2023.
It started with headaches that wouldn’t go away for weeks. Then, after an episode at home, his family took him to the Mount Holly Emergency Room. He was there only briefly before doctors sent him to Gaston Memorial Hospital for several days of tests.
Brindle passed most of the tests, but during the last one, he remembers, “they found something they didn’t like.” After that, he was sent to Levine Children’s Hospital. It was there, after more tests, doctors gave him the difficult news.
And while a team of doctors whom Brindle says have become “like family” started him on a path to recovery, the then 17-year-old high school senior says the impact of the diagnosis was devastating.
“I lost my senior year of high school,” said Brindle, who was basically quarantined due to the vulnerability of having leukemia. “I didn’t play football. I didn’t wrestle. I didn’t go to senior prom. I actually returned to school for the last month and was able to walk for graduation. But it was all very hard for me. Being isolated from the world was a weird experience.”
He got support from the community, including fundraisers organized by friends and the Cramer student government. This support also led him to Gaston College.
Brindle decided that if he couldn’t play sports, he would report on them through the school’s Sports Media Technology program. This gave him a way to stay connected to what he loved.
“When I came to Gaston, I didn’t want anybody to know what I was going through,” Brindle said. “But over time, I’ve learned to just embrace it as a part of the adversity I’ve faced.”
Brindle has worked on Gaston College’s student-run broadcasts, doing on-air broadcasting, filming, and producing for the Rhinos’ basketball, baseball, and softball games.
“Originally, I was going to study sports medicine and play football at Elon,” Brindle said. “But I had to stay home and get treatment. So, I looked at Gaston College, and as a sports fan, I wanted to do the Sports Media Program. [Instructors] Caleb Stalcup, Kate Carmody, Nick Cable, and Ronald Key have helped build my love for the entire audio and video program – and not just the sports part of it.
“It helped me so much when I was going through my treatment. Not only did it take away thinking about all of the chemotherapy, but it was also building me as a student and a man, and helped me realize so many things beyond the classroom. Working with Gaston on all of these projects has helped me mentally and physically because I was a part of a team.”
Following his last medical check-up, Brindle got to ring the bell at the Levine Children’s Hospital to indicate he was cancer-free.
“I’m officially cleared,” Brindle said. “There’s no more chemo, no more treatment. I now join a survivor program, and I’ll meet with them once a year and then three times a year after that.”
Brindle is set to graduate from Gaston College in May 2026, and now that his medical treatments are over, he hopes to return to football at a four-year school.
“When I graduate from Gaston College, I’m looking at restarting my football career at a four-year university,” said Brindle, who considers Appalachian State and Elon as possible options. “I want to study broadcast communications and, hopefully, go into a job in journalism or at a college or university on their media production team.”
